Trump has said he'll announce his selection Monday in a prime-time event from the White House East Room at 9 p.m.

Chair Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., makes opening remarks at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing with testimony from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the FY'19 budget, Wednesday, June 27, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

The appointment is seen as crucial because Kennedy was often a swing vote who would sometimes side with the court's four conservative justices and at other times with its liberals.

"We are close to making a decision", Trump said. Richard Blumenthal, Democratic senator from CT, told ABC's This Week that it posed a fundamental threat to abortion rights. In a Quinnipiac University Poll released Monday, 63 percent of Americans agree with the decision in Roe v. Wade and just 31 percent disagree. "I've argued cases before the Supreme Court", Blumenthal said on "This Week". All but one of the 25 people on the list are members of The Federalist Society, a national organization of conservative lawyers, and there's a clear pattern to judicial nominees being fed by the group: They are young, conservative and have records of being very opposed to abortion rights.

Four boys have exited Thai caveIt took about two minutes for the rescue vehicles to transport them to helicopters which later flew them to the city centre. The SEAL team is working with an global team of rescuers to bring out the 13 people stuck in the cave.

Leo said: "Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Barrett have a lot of name recognition among supporters of the president, and I think that ultimately when people like them are nominated, you'll see a lot of folks line up". "So I think it's a bit of a scare tactic and rank speculation more than anything else".

In 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spat on the spirit of our Constitution by refusing to even hold a vote on the nomination of Merrick Garland, who could have been analogous to Justice Anthony Kennedy in many views.

The conservative, pro-life activist who has President Trump's ear as he decides on filling a Supreme Court vacancy predicted the nominee would be confirmed before the mid-term elections but sidestepped a question about whether the candidate would oppose Roe v. Wade.

Blumenthal added, "The next justice on this Supreme Court will probably be the swing vote in deciding whether [the president] has to comply with a subpoena" from Mueller if a subpoena is issued. Hardiman and Kethledge were also appointed by Bush.